Development Head of New Business & Delivery

Job Title: Development Head of New Business & Deliver

Location: Flexible - able to travel within our operating region

Salary: £80,000 per annum (circa)

Job type: Permanent, Full Time. 37 hours per week.

Closing Date: 1st November 2026.

Shape the future of affordable housing. Lead major development programmes. Build lasting partnerships.

At Aster, we're committed to delivering high-quality homes and thriving communities. We're looking for an experienced and commercially astute Head of New Business & Delivery to lead a team responsible for securing, managing and delivering a significant programme of predominately developer-led housing schemes across the south/south east (Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire, Dorset and Berkshire).

This is an exciting leadership opportunity for someone who combines strategic thinking, commercial acumen and people leadership with a passion for delivering new affordable homes.

The Opportunity:

As Head of New Business & Delivery, you'll play a pivotal role in driving Aster's development ambitions. You'll lead and inspire a team of development and project professionals, ensuring the successful acquisition, appraisal, delivery and handover of new homes while maintaining a strong focus on performance, quality and value.

You'll be a visible ambassador for Aster, developing influential relationships with housebuilders, developers, local authorities, landowners and other key stakeholders, helping to identify and secure new opportunities that support our growth strategy.

This is a role where you can genuinely influence both organisational success and the delivery of much-needed homes.

What You'll Be Doing:

• Leading, motivating and developing a high-performing team of development and project managers.
• Identifying, securing and progressing new development opportunities with national, regional and local housebuilders.
• Building and maintaining strong strategic relationships across the property and development sector.
• Overseeing the successful delivery of a large portfolio of developer-led schemes from acquisition through to completion and defects resolution.
• Promotion of good communication with internal teams to manage the data transfer for new homes ensuring internal business systems are updated.
• Providing robust programme management, forecasting and risk management across development projects.
• Leading on development appraisals and acquisition proposals and other key systems.
• Negotiating and securing robust contractual, S106 and nomination agreements.

About you:

You'll be an experienced development professional with a proven track record of leading teams and delivering residential development programmes at scale.

You'll bring:

• Significant experience managing and delivering residential development schemes from inception through to completion.
• Strong leadership credentials with the ability to motivate, coach and develop high-performing teams.
• A thorough understanding of the affordable housing sector, including the regulatory, legislative and funding environment in which Registered Providers operate.
• Demonstrable experience identifying, managing and mitigating development risks.
• Strong commercial awareness and financial acumen.
• Experience using development appraisal and cashflow management systems.
• Excellent negotiation, influencing and stakeholder management skills.
• The ability to build credibility quickly and establish trusted relationships at all levels.
• A proactive, self-motivated and solutions-focused approach, with the confidence to operate autonomously while leading others to succeed.

You will be suitably located to enable travel within our operating region and will hold a full UK driving licence and have access to a vehicle for work purposes.

What’s in it for me:

We invest in our colleagues because we know if they have a better day at work, the service our customers receive will be better. The Aster Offer is our offer to our colleagues to ensure they have a great day at work and includes things like:

• Flexible working – whilst some roles need to be carried out in a specific place at a specific time, where possible we encourage our colleagues to work to their own schedule at a location that suits them, their team and our business’ needs
• A focus on colleague wellbeing – workshops, an employee assistance programme offering counselling and support, mental health training and a health cash plan
• We invest in colleagues’ careers and development through our leader and colleague development frameworks
• Defined Contribution Pension and attached life assurance
• Volunteering hours available to all colleagues to enable them to give back
• Savings at cinemas, gyms, holidays, days out, various shops and eateries and lots more
• Enhanced leave
• We celebrate colleagues who go above and beyond with a range of personalised recognition initiatives

Please click APPLY to be redirected to our website to complete your application.

Candidates with experience of: Head of New Business & Delivery, Head of Development, Head of Housing Development, Head of Development and Delivery, Head of Property Development, Head of Residential Development, Head of Affordable Housing Development, Director of Development, Development Director, Director of Housing Development, Director of New Business, Director of Development and Delivery, may also be considered for this role.